Dec. 1, 2006

Results

AMHERST, Mass. - Ranked just outside of the top 10, No. 13 Navy upset the 10th-ranked Amherst squash team Friday night, 5-4, on the Lord Jeffs' home courts. The Midshipmen head into their holiday break with a 10-2 record and will return to action in January.

"This was a big win for our program," said seventh-year Navy head coach Craig Dawson. "We played on their home court and in front of their home fans and earned a great win. I'm very happy for our team and was impressed the effort we received throughout the lineup tonight."

Navy team captain Tucker George (West Hartford, Conn.) gave the Mids an early edge by topping 62nd-ranked Drew Blacker at the No. 1 position, 9-5, 9-3, 10-8. Amherst evened the scored with a four-game decision over Navy rookie Nils Mattsson (Spring House, Pa.) at No. 2. The Mids went on to claim the next two flights that featured an impressive win by junior Jeff Sawin (Haverford, Pa.) at No. 4, where he defeated Peter Hatfield, 9-1, 9-2, 9-1.

Second-year player Michael Beautyman Jr (Plymouth Meeting, Pa.) suffered a tough loss at No. 5. He owned a 1-0 lead over Ben Bishop, but dropped three-straight games to lose the match.

Navy freshman Ben Mantica (Binghamton, N.Y.) improved to 9-2 on the year after turning in a key victory for the Midshipmen over Amherst newcomer Andrew Kriete, ranked No. 160, at the No. 6 spot. Mantica lost the opening game, but came back to win the match in four with 9-7, 9-2 and 9-5 wins.

The Mids also received a solid win from sophomore Christopher Zipf (Gladwyne, Pa.) who battled Andrew Slutsky in a thrilling five-game match. Zipf found himself down two games to one, but came back to win the final two games, 9-3 and 9-7, respectively, to pick up the win for Navy at No. 7.

Navy dropped the No. 8 and 9 spots, but it didn't matter as the Mids earned an impressive victory on the road.

#13 Navy def. #10 Amherst, 5-4Dec. 1, 2006 • Amherst, Mass.1   #40 Tucker George (N) def. #62 Drew Blacker (A)           3-0   9-5, 9-3, 10-82   #79 Auluke Mathur (A)) def. #110 Nils Mattsson (N)        3-1   9-1, 9-3, 0-9, 9-53   #105 Alastair Smith (N) def. #129 Stu Landesburg (A)      3-1   3-9, 9-2, 9-3, 9-34   #74 Jeff Sawin (N) def. #130 Peter Hatfield (A)           3-0   9-1, 9-2, 9-15   #232 Ben Bishop (A) def. #267 Michael Beautyman Jr (N)    3-1   6-9, 9-4, 10-9, 9-16   Ben Mantica (N) def. #160 Andrew Kriete (A)               3-1   4-9, 9-7, 9-2, 9-57   #244 Christopher Zipf (N) def. #166 Andrew Slutsky (A)    3-2   2-9, 9-4, 1-9, 9-3, 9-78   #96 Gautam Kalani (A) def. Dan Hellier (N)                3-0   9-2, 9-1, 9-19   #128 Jerome Giovinazzo (A) def. #174 Brian Hamilton (N)   3-0   9-1, 9-0, 9-0